John Faed
1819–1902 · Scottish painter of religious, literary and historical scenes
John Faed (Barlay Mill, Kirkcudbrightshire, 1819 – Gatehouse of Fleet, 1902) was a Scottish painter of the Victorian period, known mainly for religious, literary and historical scenes. The eldest of six children, he began painting miniatures of local people when he was only nine. He moved to Edinburgh in 1840, and the following year he showed his first work at the Royal Scottish Academy, exhibiting there almost continuously until 1895.
His narrative style found buyers in Britain and the United States. Among his best-known works are Shakespeare and his Friends at the Mermaid Tavern, from 1851, and his portrait of George Washington Taking the Salute at Trenton, from 1856, which served as the basis for a bust engraving by William Holl the Younger. Some of his paintings are held by the National Gallery of Scotland.
Besides painting, he was an active figure in Gatehouse of Fleet, where he settled, and helped develop community projects such as the clock tower and the town hall. His paintings remain in private and public collections, and his work illustrates the taste for history and genre painting in nineteenth-century Scotland.
Works (3)
An 1874 history painting by John Faed depicting a episode from Scottish history: shortly before a large invasion of England during the wider War of the League of Cambrai, King James IV is approached in the chapel of Linlithgow Palace by a mysterious stranger who warns him of looming danger. The prophecy foreshadows the Scottish defeat at Flodden in 1513, where the king died in battle. The work was shown at the Royal Academy in London in 1874.
Oil on canvas dated 1882 by John Faed, an artist about whom the available information is limited. The title suggests a subject tied to imagination and poetry, but no reliable details are recorded about its composition, commission or reception. The painting is held in the collection of the Royal Scottish Academy.
Where to see the work
- Wolverhampton Art Gallery City of Wolverhampton · 1